InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Vol Squad to the rescue!"

Steve Rogers (captainhandsome) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-10-06 22:21:00

Entry tags:

gamewide plot, steve rogers (mcu), tony stark (mcu)

Who: Tony and Little Wee Steve
What: Uh oh, not again
Where: Their house
When: October 6

Steve was used to waking up cold, if the fire died out, not enough wood to stock it. Empty fireplace, empty stomach, that was normal. So waking up warm was kind of strange, stranger still was the warm wasn't from Bucky buried in behind him breathing on his neck. It was from a man. Steve lay there for a long time, wondering why he wasn't panicking. But he wasn't scared, probably should have been, had every reason to be, but wasn't.

When he got up it was actually more of a surprise to see himself. Steve wasn't sure what he'd been expecting but he had to get closer to get a better look. He was so small, youthful and baby faced and with a strong desire to play jacks and eat pancakes.

The man didn't look like he was going to be waking up on his own any time soon and so Steve got closer, reaching out to gently shake his shoulder. "Hey Mister?" Steve said quietly. "Sorry mister but you got to wake up."

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allaboutego
2019-10-06 09:31 pm UTC (link)

"I think it might have been a long time ago," Tony said, not wanting to completely break Steve's mind with the concept of time travel or being an adult already, but. It was probably coming sooner rather than later. "You've lived here a while, now."

In this room. Which Steve knew about, apparently, so it wasn't like he could even argue that. He didn't want to argue it -- lying to Steve felt bad. Bit the truth was awkward at best. "Yeah," he agreed. "You're the best artist I know. You definitely did that." Jesus. Tony didn't peek but he hoped there wasn't anything R-rated in that sketchbook of his. "And I don't know. Sometimes weird things just happen. You'll be okay though. Do you need a sweater?"

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captainhandsome
2019-10-06 10:03 pm UTC (link)

Weird things just happened. Last week had been a long time ago and this stranger who wasn't a stranger was so important and Steve looked at Tony with wide eyes. "Yeah, yeah," he agreed as he looked around. It felt lived in and Steve looked at the shoes beside the bed, measuring his feet against them. It felt like when you woke up from the dream and the details were just beyond the fuzz, but slowly slipping away.

Steve blushed at the compliment, gripping the sketchbook a little tighter. The contents were far from PG but surely that was something he'd find later and hopefully when he was alone. "Gee thanks, Tony," he said quietly.

He shivered before he nodded, yes a sweater would do him some good. "It's cold," Steve agreed. "My chest hurts."

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allaboutego
2019-10-06 10:19 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah," Tony repeated because it looked like Steve was sort of getting there on his own, and that meant that -- there were still some memories or something of them deep down in his head. There had to be maybe, or else this would all be overwhelming and Steve wouldn't just be standing there hugging his sketchbook and looking like he had some deep things to be contemplating. No, he'd be flipping his shit, most likely. Tony knew if the situations were reversed, he would be, anyway.

Well, he might still, but he figured he'd wait on it. See what happened for a bit before getting to that point.

"Your chest--? Oh. Okay, yeah. That's." That made sense. Because Steve was little and riddled with illness and that was his normal back then. Luckily, Tony'd dealt with this already last time. Not that Steve had been a kid last time, but he had been small, and Tony had found some stuff to help. "We've got some medicine for you. In the bathroom. Sweaters in the closet." He got up then -- to wander over to the closet to find the smallest sweater available -- one of his own, instead of Steve's because Tony simply was smaller, and in this moment, that would help.

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captainhandsome
2019-10-06 10:59 pm UTC (link)

Sort of getting there. But not all the way. Steve's mind moved so fast, to Bucky and to baseball and then back to Tony and everything almost so fast he couldn't process it all. Just that he was standing there in a tshirt so big it had fallen off one shoulder and yes he needed a sweater.

Which he took from Tony and climbed into, the warm of it something he was instantly grateful for. Good. Warm. Tony knew him, knew he needed medicine and that took a little pressure off. Steve knew sometimes there was no money for medicine and he had to make do how he could. So knowing there was some that made it better.

He followed Tony into the bathroom, taking a seat on the edge of the tub and swinging his skinny legs. the wheezing was getting worse but Steve still smiled up at him. He was so impressive and Steve looked at the light coming through his clothing. "That's real pretty, Tony," Steve told him quietly. "What is it?"

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allaboutego
2019-10-07 10:03 pm UTC (link)

Well, it was a good thing that Steve felt at least a bit more relieved about it -- of course, money was never an issue with Tony, but it had been a bit of hell trying to locate these medicines the last time. Resources were worth more than money these days -- but that simply wasn't something Tony was going to worry Steve about. That'd be a cruel thing to do to a kid, and Tony would make this as easy on him as possible.

He passed over an inhaler, one that'd been stashed away in the back of the medicine cabinet and then pulled out all the rest. Steve was allergic to everything. It was ridiculous, but at least there was a shot that helped with it.

"Wh-- oh." Tony said, a little surprised. "That's my-- it's an arc reactor," he said, because there was no point in lying. Steve could sniff those out from miles away. He pulled the collar of his shirt down enough to offer a peek of metal and glowing blue. "I built it and it keeps me alive."

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captainhandsome
2019-10-08 01:50 am UTC (link)

Steve took the inhaler, his nailbeds a little blue from obviously not breathing that well a while now. But he was used to it. He was careful breathing out as much as he could before pressing down and breathing in the medicine. He did it a few times, because that's what you did when it was bad and your lungs were tight like a monster was sitting on your chest.

His eyes widened when Tony showed him The Arc Reactor and he mouthed the words that he'd never heard so he'd remember later. "You built that?" Steve asked in awe and admiration and like Tony was the most impressive person in the world (which he absolutely was). "Are you sick too?" He asked and he didn't mean to sound excited, Steve didn't want people to be sick but it might be nice not being the only one.

Steve was surprised to see that Tony had his medicine in the house, his mother would take him somewhere when she could afford it and never had the luxury of having so much. So Steve carefully and obediently rolled up his sleeve. "Are you a doctor, Tony?"

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allaboutego
2019-10-08 02:54 am UTC (link)

Tony waited patiently while Steve took to his inhaler -- giving him time to adjust, to let the meds settle in until he could breathe better. He most definitely was not having any kind of internal crisis about how his boyfriend was a child he basically had to take care of now. Nope. That'd come later, no doubt.

The question of whether or not he was sick didn't come quite as a surprise -- it sort of followed through with the conversation, after all. But he'd never really been asked that before. Not so upfront, anyway. Leave it to kids to just ask instead of wondering, or maybe just poking around at the idea of it slowly. "Sometimes I am," he said after a moment of consideration, because it was true. Maybe not in the same way this little Steve was but -- still. "Sometimes I have bad days," he decided on saying, because that was true, too. And because he knew Steve had that problem too, when he was sick. Wanting to relate wasn't a bad thing. He got it.

"And no, I'm not really a doctor," That didn't mean he didn't give the shot like an expert anyway, though. He'd had some practice. "At least, not that kind. I have degrees that are doctorates. In science and mechanics though, not medicine."

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captainhandsome
2019-10-08 11:19 am UTC (link)

As soon as he inhaled he felt better, the medicine worked incredibly well in the short term. In the long term he'd need the shot and no one liked having to get a shot. But Steve wouldn't complain, he'd never complain about that.

He didn't want Tony to be sick, but lucky it was sometimes, not all of the time. Steve knew about that. Like in winter everyone lived in fear that he'd get a cold or the flu, that he might not make it through another winter. "Me too, but tomorrow's a new day, right Tony?" He said with a little smile as he breathed in slow and deep.

Tony was amazing and Steve looked at him in awe as he swung his legs again. "Wow," he said on the exhale. Beautiful and a genius. "Have you given me my medicine before?" Steve asked but he was pretty sure that he knew the answer. "Do you know how to be gentle because sometimes they make it hurt."

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allaboutego
2019-10-08 06:12 pm UTC (link)

Tomorrow's a new day. That was -- well. It was just incredibly cute. And very optimistic. It was just very Steve, through and through, and Tony couldn't help but smile even as he stuck a little bandaid on the spot where he'd given Steve a shot. Knowing him in this condition, it'd probably leave a bruise.

Funny, since there wasn't much he could do to Steve in his normal state that'd leave any kind of lasting mark.

"Yeah, you're not wrong kiddo," he agreed. "And I've done this once or twice. Painless, right? I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

He washed his hands again, put everything away except for the inhaler -- Steve ought to keep that on him. "Alright, Captain. You're set here. Now what?"

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captainhandsome
2019-10-08 10:16 pm UTC (link)

It hurt, but Steve was brave and careful not to look at the needle because it made it better not to look. Tony put a plaster on the spot and Steve rolled down his sleeve, pulling the sweater around him some more. Because cold was his natural state of being, it was hard to be warm when there wasn't anything of him.

He nodded quickly, because he knew that, he knew Tony wouldn't hurt him. This place felt safe, this room, his room. But why couldn't he remember it? Why did yesterday feel so long ago? He had a lot of questions.

"I got to go find Bucky," he said quickly, jumping to his feet. Steve was at the bathroom door in a flash, before he returned for the inhaler and raced back again but paused in the doorway to look back at Tony. "I'll come back, promise," Steve said sincerely. Because that seemed really, really important.

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allaboutego
2019-10-10 12:38 am UTC (link)

God, this was weird. It was so weird. But when Steve came barreling back into the bathroom to reassure Tony that he'd be back? Well. Tony couldn't help but smile softly. Because of course Steve would say that; would make his intentions clear. Even when he didn't have to, because Tony was practically just a stranger to him and if he felt so inclined, he could stay gone -- make a new home at Bucky's place and how would Tony ever be able to argue against that?

"Okay," he said, nodding a little, not sure how to really even respond. "Okay. That's good. You go have fun. I'll see you later."

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